


mutual suffering is a bonding experience

by chonkytheslur



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: 5+1 Things, Bad Matchmaking, F/M, Fluff, Getting Together, Humor, Meddling, Minor Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, This takes place in their sixth year, dorlene if you squint, except it's three instead of five, lily just wants to study and also maybe kiss james' face, mistletoe plays a role wow festive, the marauders are shits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:41:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28072611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chonkytheslur/pseuds/chonkytheslur
Summary: “Lily here,” Sirius clapped a hand on Lily’s shoulder. “is just dying to get a ride on that broom, yeah?”Lily narrowed her eyes.“That wasn’t a euphemism,” Sirius amended quickly.Three times Sirius failed at being a wingman and one time it worked out anyway.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter
Comments: 15
Kudos: 52





	mutual suffering is a bonding experience

**Author's Note:**

  * For [potter_redheads](https://archiveofourown.org/users/potter_redheads/gifts).



> this is my gift for our discord secret santa! i really hope you enjoy it !! :)
> 
> huge thanks to my betas, [margot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontthrowsticksatme/pseuds/Dontthrowsticksatme) and rachel !! you were both so helpful and encouraging

I.

“Sirius Black, you give - that - _back!”_ Lily cursed his long legs as the distance between them lengthened. He was cackling gleefully as he made his way through the halls with her Potions textbook held high above his head.

“Accio!” she tried, but he blocked the spell with a casual movement over his shoulder. He wrenched open a door and she followed moments after, cursing him out in her head.

“What the hell,” she panted, not even realizing where she was until he skidded to a stop. The room was filled with deep red couches, and for a moment Lily wondered how they had gotten into the Gryffindor Common Room, before realizing she had never been in this room before. James Potter was sitting in the corner of the room looking equally bewildered, and - _oh._

She only caught a glimpse of Sirius’ gleeful smile before he darted out the way he came in. The door banged shut, then faded into the wall; Lily groaned. She was now stuck in the room with James with no visible way out.

“He didn’t even give me the damn textbook,” Lily grumbled. James laughed, but she gave him a suspicious look.

“What are you plotting?” she refused to sit, crossing her arms as if that gave her some sort of leverage. It was nice, she thought, to at least be taller than him for once.

He just barked out an even louder laugh, doing nothing to appease Lily’s suspicions, although the butterflies in her stomach were similarly affected. “I have no idea what he’s plotting. He told me he was pranking Peter, and that if I helped him, he would write my Charms essay.”

“And you just believed him?”

“Listen,” James shifted to rest his forearms on his knees. “I only believed him because Moony was going along with it too. Fucking _Moony,_ ” he laughed again, shaking his head proudly despite himself.

“So, what’s all this then?” Lily determinedly bit back a smile. “Some sort of perverted matchmaking attempt?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say _perverted…”_

Lily sighed and turned back to face the wall where the door had previously been. She forced down the resulting claustrophobic panic that threatened to surface at the thought of a room without any doors. “What is this room anyways?”

“Evans,” he came behind her suddenly and rested an arm on her shoulder, effectively jumpstarting her heart once more. He made a broad, theatrical gesture with his other hand as if he was presenting something grand to an audience. “This… is the Room of Requirement. It morphs into whatever your heart desires - clearly Sirius wasn’t feeling creative today, but he has a pretty face, so we’ll forgive him. In order to access it...”

He continued on, but the words faded to the background as Lily considered the wall. The deepness of his voice - it hadn’t been that deep last year, had it? - and the smell of his cologne - subtle, but noticeable at the same time - _absolutely_ did not distract her as her mind whirred.

If the Room was based on the user’s desires… “James?” she interrupted. He turned his full attention onto her, and _really_ this was just unfair. “How did you say you get into it?”

“You walk past the room three times and you concentrate on what you need the room to turn into.”

Lily raised an eyebrow. “But why is the door gone now?”

James shrugged. “We only actually found it last week, so I dunno. Probably because Sirius was the one who opened the room.”

An image flitted through Lily’s mind at the thought. She could rise up on her tiptoes and simply kiss him… if Sirius was trying to get them together, then that was what the Room wanted too, right? And there was some plausible deniability in that she could claim it was simply to get them out of the room…

Lily shook her head, clearing her thoughts. _Focus._ She closed her eyes and focused intently. _We need to get out of this room. We need to get out of this room. We need a door._

“Um… Evans?”

She opened her eyes and was faced with a large mahogany door, identical to the one she had entered the room through. Relief flooded through her - she ignored the slight disappointment she felt - and she let out a loose laugh. He opened the door and bowed exaggeratedly; she rolled her eyes and walked through, secretly pleased.

“Of all people to be tricked into staying in a room with, I’m glad it was you, Evans.” Lily opened her mouth to respond but cut herself off. Sirius was leaning against the wall, across from the Room of Requirement, wiggling his eyebrows at her. Her textbook was on the ground next to him.

“Did it work?” he called out.

James crossed over and smacked him playfully on the head. Lily tried not to mourn the loss of his close proximity. “Nice try, Padfoot.”

“Eh, well, that was only the first attempt,” Sirius grinned.

Lily ignored him. “Give me my damn textbook back.”

II.

The next few days passed quietly, which should’ve been sufficient indication to Lily that something was going to Happen.

James had actually apologized to her for the debacle with the Room of Requirement, which came as a pleasant surprise.

“You didn’t have anything to do with it, though,” she’d said.

He’d only shrugged sheepishly in response. “Well… I suppose, but,” he rubbed the back of his neck in the way that he did sometimes when he was nervous. “I know sometimes all of my… I mean… _this…_ makes you uncomfortable. I’ll talk to him, okay?”

Then he’d walked off before Lily had the chance to do something stupid like tell him she hadn’t been uncomfortable at all, and a small - maybe not so small - part of her was secretly hoping Sirius’ matchmaking attempt would succeed. She hadn’t been given the chance to tell James that his apology, and his _other_ apologies, were a demonstration of the kind of maturity she’d been waiting since Third Year for him to show.

She glanced warily at the mistletoe above her head and sighed. Maybe this was the universe’s punishment for her silence. Well. Sirius’ punishment, or as he was calling it, “the wise guidance of the Fates - _don’t look at me like that James, it could happen to anyone-”._

“You alright, Evans?” James was sitting less than a foot away from her, leaning against the wall. Somehow - Sirius claimed he was innocent but both Lily’s logic _and_ gut instinct said otherwise - the two had ended up under the mistletoe and were now stuck in the stairwell, conveniently in everyone’s way. According to Remus, the charms would not allow them to walk outside of a small diameter until both parties engaged in a consensual kiss. When asked how he knew that, he conveniently fell hard of hearing and retreated back into the corner where Sirius was waiting.

“Yeah, I’m alright,” she said. “Interesting how we keep getting into these predicaments.”

He shifted slightly closer and smiled apologetically. “I really don’t know what Sirius is on about. He normally isn’t like… well, actually-” he paused. “Normally he isn’t like this towards _me._ ”

“I don’t know if Sirius is the one you should be worried about,” Lily glanced sideways at Remus, who was laying sideways on one of the couches on the other side of the Common Room, head rested in Sirius’ lap. “I think Remus is the bad influence.”

“And no one ever thinks to suspect him either!” James joined in, passionately as though he had discussed this before. Remus with his soft sweaters and prefect’s badge and quiet, studious demeanor… he had a continuous alibi.

James launched into the story of a prank that Remus had single handedly pulled off in Fourth Year, gesticulating wildly as he explained how Remus had lied straight to McGonagall’s face and somehow avoided any suspicion at all. “And then McGonagall suspected Sirius, Peter and I - don’t look at me like that Evans, you know we would _never_ \- and we got detention too! Moony didn’t even do anything interesting while we were all serving his detention, he went to the _library-”_

The two gradually shifted closer as the story continued, so subtle neither of them would’ve noticed had the proximity not been lighting their nerves on fire already. Besides, there were people passing up and down the stairs… it would be rude of them _not_ to move. James was already sitting against the wall, so Lily simply shifted a few inches to get out of people’s way, and if James turned to face her, well that was no crime, was it?

Lily’s focus shifted, however, when something moved in the corner of her eye. Remus was no longer laying on Sirius’ lap, rather, they were both craning their necks to look over her and James. James faltered and glanced behind him to see what Lily was staring at, then promptly flipped the bird at his two friends.

“Piss off, Black!” Lily yelled.

“Oi, what about Remus?” Sirius looked affronted, and Remus, smug.

Lily shrugged, lips turning up at the corners. “Hi Remus. I still need to revise your Potions essay, you have until Wednesday to do it, right?” She had half a mind to tell Remus to piss off too - he was worse than the rest of them at times - but decided that annoying Sirius would be more fun.

“Yeah,” Remus’ voice had the unique quality of softness, but in a way that carried across the room. It was one of the reasons his friends often looked so brazen in comparison. “I figured now that you have your textbook and all, you can help me out with the-”

“Hey, whose side are you on?” Sirius playfully tackled Remus, and then their attention was contained within their own corner once again. Lily turned back to James only to find him already staring at her, though he looked down when she made eye contact.

Gently, after a moment of hesitation, her fingers found his chin and lifted it up. “Potter?” she said, wondering what stars had to be aligned for _her_ to be the one making moves on James Potter. “My legs are getting cramped.”

His hazel eyes lit up, but his words were hesitant. “Evans... are you...? I don’t want you to do anything you’re not comfortable-”

She cut him off by placing a chaste kiss on his cheek, lingering for half a second before pulling away. Despite being a Gryffindor, she didn’t meet his eyes. Cheeks burning, she took a few cautious steps up the stairs, further and further until-

Nothing stopped her. “It worked!” she exclaimed, looking down at James. He had already stood and was stretching casually. His typical cool, slightly arrogant façade was back into place. It was a familiar look, but one Lily hadn’t seen in a long time. “I wasn’t sure a cheek kiss would be enough…”

“Well it was, wasn’t it? Good night, Evans,” he ruffled her hair, then left for the boy’s dormitory. Lily trudged up to her own dormitory, alone, the happy sounds of Sirius and Remus being little shits in the background fading as she walked up the stairs.

III.

The Quidditch stands were freezing, but Lily was warm. Marlene was shivering slightly, and without a word, Lily cast another warming charm on her. She smiled gratefully in return.

“She looks good out there,” Marlene was saying, eyes fixed on her girlfriend. Dorcas was easily flying laps around everyone else, and the Gryffindor girls were confident she would earn the spot of Chaser, the only spot that was currently open.

Alice snorted, and Marlene swatted her without even looking. “Not like that! Well, actually… not _just_ like that,” she amended. “But I’m serious! She’s flying circles around everyone else. I just feel bad for those third years…”

There was a small gaggle of second and third years nervously hovering on their brooms, glancing periodically at the upperclassman above them in clear apprehension. One boy rose up shakily and nearly crashed into Potter, who dodged at the last second. Lily winced. “They were brave enough to come out here, I’ll give them credit for that.”

“Maybe they’ll come back in a couple years,” Mary said. “It’ll probably help if the captains recognize them, right?”

They continued in a discussion about the sport, but Lily was distracted by something - rather, someone, across the stadium. Seeing as James was on the team and helping oversee the tryouts, his friends were watching, just as the girls were doing for Dorcas. Most likely though, Lily thought dryly, they were also driven by their usual need to cause mischief.

She was proven right when Sirius ran down the stands, jumping the last few steps. “Oh Merlin, what now,” Lily murmured to herself. He ducked underneath the swinging feet of terrified second years and made his way up to Lily, a broad grin on his face.

“What do you want, Black?” she said.

“Any of you ladies want to fly?”

They all stared at him blankly. Marlene squinted at him for a moment, then turned her attention back to Dorcas, who flipped upside down on her broom to narrowly avoid a bludger.

“You’re not even on the team,” Alice pointed out.

Sirius winked. “Remember who you’re talking to.” Then, not even waiting for a response, he pulled Lily by the hand and walked them down to the pitch. She considered resisting, but curiosity - and possibly something else - won out.

“Sirius…”

“ _Lily…_ ” he mimicked. “Oi, James!” he barked, capturing James’ attention and causing him to fly down in confusion. The tryouts were nearly over; all the necessary drills and such had been run. It was a silver lining, Lily supposed, that at least they weren’t interrupting anything important.

“Everything okay?” James dismounted, running his hand through his hair absentmindedly. Lily’s eyes were drawn to the gesture. She still felt a twinge of guilt when she saw him doing that, remembering their fight last year and the way he had stopped messing with his hair after she called him out on it.

She’d grown much fonder than she’d ever intended to of the moments when he forgot himself and slipped into old habits.

“Lily here,” Sirius clapped a hand on Lily’s shoulder. “is just _dying_ to get a ride on that broom, yeah?”

Lily narrowed her eyes.

“That wasn’t a euphemism,” Sirius amended quickly.

“Please stop talking,” James said, then turned to Lily. “Do you want to fly, though?”

Lily opened her mouth to say no, then she caught the hopeful look in James’ eyes and all of a sudden, her mouth was forming the word yes. Sirius lit up like a Christmas tree. “I wasn’t expecting that to work!”

“ _Sirius.”_

“What? Oh. Expecting what to work? Haha. Coming, Moony!” he sprinted off.

“It was that easy to make him leave?” James said, bewildered, before remembering what he was in the middle of doing. “Accio broom,” he handed a Cleansweep four to Lily and she mounted it. She was no Quidditch player, but she wasn’t bad either.

By this point, the tryouts really were over. Neither of them quite knew who the new Chaser was, on account of James leaving a few minutes early, but Lily found she didn’t mind. “They don’t need me,” James shrugged. He adjusted her grip on her broom. “If you hold it like this,” he demonstrated. “You’ll have more control. Yes, just like that!”

Although she had done decently in their first year flying lessons, Lily was not one for sports, and had not touched a broom since. “I’m completely capable,” she huffed, hands too tight around the broom handle.

James looked at her in bewilderment, as if wondering how anyone could think otherwise. “Of course you are.”

Before she could respond, a quaffle soared over and hit James on the back, bouncing once when it hit the ground. Zhou was standing a few feet away, a shit-eating grin on her face. “Hey Potter!” she hollered. “Get your ass over here!”

James sighed. “I’ve gotta help her pack up the equipment-”

“I’ve gotta fill you in on the shit you missed when you were flirting with Evans, too!”

He pinched the bridge of his nose.

“It’s okay,” Lily tampered down on her rising disappointment. “I don’t think flying is really my thing anyway.” She wanted to kick herself the moment those words left her mouth. _Stupid._

“Jesus, Potter, are you deaf?”

James rolled his eyes. “Sorry Evans,” he looked like he wanted to say something else, but Zhou threw the quaffle at him again, this time making a solid _thunk_ noise, and he seemed to think better of it. “I’ll - I’ll see you later,” he said hurriedly, took her broom, and left.

She suddenly felt bare without the broom to hold onto as she watched his retreating back. He was under no obligation to constantly be giving her special treatment, or validation, especially after being shot down so many times (a decision she found justified, even if her answer would be different today). But all the same… the minced words, the strange looks, the push coming from _Sirius_ which was disorienting yet logical at the same time…

Things were awkward between them, hesitant and faltering. Lily hadn’t always liked James - hadn’t even found him tolerable for a long time - but despite the conflicts, their interactions had never left her feeling like this. Like she didn’t know what to do with her limbs.

For once, Lily Evans was starting to side with Sirius Black and his badly thought out plans, even worse in execution. It was a scary thought.

* * *

“Evans,” James’s limbs were floppy and loose as he sat next to her, careless yet controlled in that weird way he always moved. She was sitting outside against a tree, trying to study. “I need your help.”

She let her head flop against the tree trunk. “What did you do?” she sighed.

“That’s the thing!” he exclaimed. “I didn’t even _do_ anything.”

“It’s more what he didn’t do.” Lily jumped, almost ramming her head into Sirius, who had just appeared behind them.

“Padfoot…” James shifted back warily.

Sirius leaned against the tree, somehow looking ridiculous and cool at the same time. “Relax mate, I’m not gonna pull anything. I’m assuming that’s why you’re begging Lily for help?”

He took the answering silence as an affirmative. “Right, well. I came here to… apologize,” he shifted uncomfortably. “I’m sorry for… disrespecting your boundaries, and for continuing to do so even after you asked me to stop.”

Lily made incredulous eye contact with James. “Um…”

“And congrats, Lily,” Sirius added hastily, to which she nodded in slight confusion. She had mastered the creation of a new charm the other day, so she assumed that’s what he was referring to.

James was still eyeing Sirius cautiously, as if expecting someone to jump out at any moment and pull his pants down. “Well, thanks for the apology, mate.”

“Any time,” the tension melted away and he was back to his typical, carefree exterior. Lily wondered just how often he apologized; based on his obvious discomfort, she guessed it wasn’t often. In a strange way, she was touched.

“I should get back, Filch is about five minutes away from finding a nasty shock in his office, and Mary’s gonna be my alibi.” He ran back to the castle before either of them could respond.

Lily started giggling, watching him run off. “I guess you didn’t need my help after all?” she asked, glancing at James. He looked blankly at her.

“Since you came over here saying you needed me for something?” she filled in, her books still spilled open on her lap. The thought of helping James was far more appealing than finishing her homework, even taking his disregard for rules into account.

“Oh,” he said. “right. I guess not.”

He looked about as disappointed as Lily felt.

+I.

Sirius found her later in the library, studying in the corner. “Oh good,” he said, then promptly shut her book. “Lily, I need your help.”

“What is it with you and manhandling my textbooks?”

He ignored her question. “Lily, Lilypad, Ms. Evans,” he leaned forward with his hands resting on the table. “Remus is going fucking insane and subsequently, so are the rest of us. You’re the best at Potions, please help. Peter is five seconds away from hexing him.”

She stared at him in confusion. “What are you - _oh,_ ” she threw her books in her bag and started to follow Sirius out of the library. “I can’t believe I forgot. I _told_ him I was going to revise that essay and it completely slipped my mind.” Her stomach twisted with guilt and she walked faster.

When they got to the Common Room, she immediately spotted him in the corner of the room. He was conversing with James and Peter. It wasn’t until she was a few feet away from them that she noticed something was wrong.

“Mate…” Peter’s watery eyes were darting around; his nose was twitching oddly, like a rat. “She has a boyfriend.”

James’ back was to her, but she could hear him clearly. “Is that-” his voice trembled. “Is that why Sirius was congratulating her earlier?”

Regret was written all over Peter’s face, but he nodded. “Mate…”

“I thought… that I might have a chance,” James continued, not realizing her and Sirius were behind them. Feeling guilty for eavesdropping on what seemed to be a vulnerable conversation, Lily cleared her throat.

“Um, Remus,” she said awkwardly. James whirled around, staring fearfully at her. “Um… I heard that you needed help on that essay?” she laughed uncomfortably, wondering how essay-induced panic had somehow devolved into... well, she wasn’t quite sure _what_ was going on.

Remus coughed. “Yeah um, I wanted you to take a look at the thesis-”

James cut him off. “How long were you standing there?”

All four of them were staring at her, surrounding her. It was disconcerting, to say the least. “Only a few seconds…” her voice was quiet.

Lily looked at James’ panicked, wide eyes, then glanced over to see Sirius winking unsubtly and flashing two big thumbs up in the background. A thought started to form in her head.

“Were you talking about me?” she asked, and the resulting blush that filled James’ face was enough answer for her. “Not sure where they got the idea that I have a boyfriend, but.”

She couldn’t help the smile that made its way onto her face as she shook her head fondly and brought her lips to James’ in a kiss.

He went still, and for a moment she was afraid she did something wrong, before his hands came to rest on her lower back and in her hair. He kissed her softly, holding her as if she were something precious in his hands, and yet there was a certain intensity behind it.

Reluctantly, she pulled away after a few moments, a warm feeling settling in her gut when James took a few extra seconds to open his eyes.

Sirius was cheering in the background and pumping his fists, much to the apparent chagrin of Remus, who was clearly biting back a smile. “Guess we figured it out after all,” Lily grinned. “I was getting sick of those awful plans. Figured I should do something before he accidentally killed himself. Or before _I_ killed _him._ ”

James just snorted and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “‘Plan’ is probably too generous of a word.”

He glanced behind his shoulder, following Lily’s line of sight to see his best friends in the corner. Peter was now sitting on the floor reading his book, oblivious to - or perhaps, choosing to ignore - the antics of his friends. Sirius was, at the moment, making incredibly obnoxious kissy faces at James and Lily; he was cut off by Remus throwing a pillow at him. Peter smoothly dodged it when it bounced off Sirius’ head, not even looking up from his book.

“If anyone needs a wingman, it’s those two.” They were too far to hear anything, but Remus was blushing, and Sirius sported the widest grin imaginable.

“Totally fucking oblivious,” James shook his head.

Lily pulled James in for another kiss. She smiled when he came back looking dazed. “That seems to be a trend here.”

* * *

It was a week later in the Great Hall when the thought finally occurred to her. “Sirius,” she said slowly, setting down her fork. “You’re smart.”

He beamed smugly, as he often did when receiving praise. “Why thank you, I’m-”

She cut him off, “So why were your attempts to set us up so _bad?_ ”

The smile on his face only widened, to her surprise. “Why, Evans, I thought you’d have figured it out by now.”

Lily only looked at him blankly, though she did notice Remus cover a laugh with a cough. “Mutual suffering is a _bonding_ experience,” Sirius sighed, waving his fork tiredly. “The badness of our plots added to the _fun._ You think we were going to just do a one and done deal? I’m offended, honestly.”

“So your apology was fake?” Lily demanded. Sirius had the decency to look sheepish. “And don’t think I forgot the part _you_ played as well, Peter,” she narrowed her eyes.

Remus’ shoulders were shaking with contained mirth.

Sirius flicked his peas at Remus and his attention was drawn away once more, but Lily side-eyed her boyfriend. “Mutual suffering, huh?” she whispered, then looked pointedly at the two, and he grinned. Across the table, Remus flicked Sirius on the head and laughed so loud he couldn’t even notice the other boy’s flush.

Finally, they were on the same page.

**Author's Note:**

> the marauders don't find the room of requirement in canon but i've decided that canon is just a suggestion! shout out to my oc zhou, who i created because i couldn't find the names of james potter's teammates :D
> 
> comments and kudos are greatly appreciated as always
> 
> happy holidays everyone 💜
> 
> [my tumblr](https://biginnyweasley.tumblr.com/post/638362866262704128/mutual-suffering-is-a-bonding-experience)


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